


I see where all the burning fire's hidden

by schmetterlinq



Category: K-pop, VIXX
Genre: M/M, Praise Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-21
Updated: 2015-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-25 04:04:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3796027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schmetterlinq/pseuds/schmetterlinq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hakyeon had always thought praise was very important.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I see where all the burning fire's hidden

**Author's Note:**

> Praise kink fic for Lauren and Marta. Title from 'FKA x inc.' by FKA twigs.

 

It was always an ongoing joke among the members that Taekwoon hated to receive compliments.

Sometimes, after vocal training, Jaehwan would tease him, chasing him around and praising him excessively - "Taekwoon hyung you're so talented, you sing so well" - while Taekwoon, red in the face, tried to escape. Hakyeon would usually end up having to grab Jaehwan and slap him to make him stop, and the gratitude on Taekwoon's face every time was almost sad.

Hakyeon had always thought praise was very important. What better way was there to motivate someone than by telling them they had done a good job? It had always been that way for him and for almost everyone else he'd met.

Back in high school, Hakyeon had formed an unofficial study group for most of the members of his class, staying after school to do homework together. Some of the students, the ones who didn't get such good grades, had been reluctant to join them at first, and even when they agreed to come to the sessions - Hakyeon got along with everybody and was, he liked to think, very good at being persuasive - they would usually be shy and avoid participating. But encouraging words could quickly bring them out of their shells.

It was the same during training. Long before he was ever officially the leader of their team, Hakyeon had stepped up to take charge of the group of trainees. Praise during training was vital. The vocal and dance coaches were often harsh; the encouragement from the company was infrequent. Hakyeon started taking it upon himself to give everyone notes after practise sessions. He was always very careful to end with praise for everyone, no matter how critical he needed to be of some aspects of their work. Back at the dorm in the evenings, when he saw the younger trainees smile and play together, Hakyeon would think to himself how important it was that everyone went away from practise feeling positive, able to relax, rather than spend their precious free time worrying.

Handling Taekwoon was different. This wasn't surprising - Taekwoon was different, in almost every aspect of his personality, to almost anyone else Hakyeon had ever met. The other trainees were nervous of him at first; it was quite normal for Hakyeon to find them all in a cluster, chattering and hanging off each other, and Taekwoon in the corner, sitting in silence. They didn't do it to be deliberately cruel: most efforts to engage Taekwoon in the beginning were met with soft, one-word answers at best, and at worst the sight of Taekwoon's disappearing back as he got up and left the room.

In spite of his silence, Hakyeon liked Taekwoon a lot straight away. It wasn't just because they were the same age, or because the shy soft-spoken boy among the rowdy trainees intrigued him. It was difficult for Hakyeon to explain even to himself. Perhaps it was something about the way he could see the world disappearing around Taekwoon whenever the other boy sang - the same way everything seemed to melt away when Hakyeon himself danced. Not a shared passion exactly, but a shared understanding of how it felt for music to carry you away from whatever ordinary place you stood in and take you some place magic. A sense of something that was the same in his and the quiet boy's souls.

It was very important, Hakyeon had thought initially, to treat Taekwoon just as he would anyone else, to include him just as he made the effort to include all the other trainees. If this had the added benefit of allowing Hakyeon to try and get to know Taekwoon - well, that was just a happy coincidence, Hakyeon would have told anyone; really he was just being a good leader. And so he would make sure to sit by Taekwoon when they ate and the others were a little reluctant to; to ask Taekwoon to join them when they went to the shops or walked between the practise rooms; to speak to Taekwoon and try to engage him.

Of course, it ended up being impossible to treat Taekwoon like anyone else, because Taekwoon wasn't like anyone else. He didn't speak much at all at first, so Hakyeon couldn't talk to him the way he would normally talk to someone; he had to adapt his conversation to Taekwoon's nods and short responses, had to learn that Taekwoon looking away from him or barely reacting to his presence wasn't necessarily a sign that Taekwoon didn't want him there but just something in Taekwoon that couldn't always tolerate all the pressures of human interaction and needed to be allowed to neglect some social conventions and rest.

Taekwoon seemed to hate it when he was praised, especially in front of the group. Hakyeon very quickly learned not to do this, after their very first vocal class together when he complimented Taekwoon and Taekwoon went tomato-red and looked like he wanted to sink into the ground. Their coaches weren't quite as understanding of Taekwoon's particular feelings about compliments. One vocal coach noona in particular would often praise him in front of the others, waxing almost poetic about the unusual tone of Taekwoon's voice. Some of the other trainees would be envious (perhaps partly because the vocal coach noona was extremely pretty, but also because there was quite a high number of aspiring lead vocalists in their group) but Taekwoon would always shift anxiously from foot to foot, shaking his head at the praise and mumbling, "no, no, that's not..." Sometimes sweat would be visible on his face and he would even turn towards the vocal coach noona, hands clasping slightly as though he wanted to beg her to stop.

Hakyeon developed other ways of encouraging Taekwoon - cheering him on before he began singing; clapping when he finished solos rather than saying anything; knowing when to stay quiet, when Taekwoon needed to hear nothing at all. He wanted to encourage Taekwoon, because he was proud of him, because Taekwoon was talented and did so well. But making Taekwoon comfortable and giving him what he needed was more important than what Hakyeon wanted.

It soon became obvious to Hakyeon that there was another reason he couldn't treat Taekwoon like he did any of the other trainees. As much as he liked all his fellow trainees and was close to most of them, very quickly he realised that the way he felt about Taekwoon was quite different to the way he felt about any of the others.

*

It was several years after their debut - even several years after the day they heard the decision for the concept of their third comeback was vampires and Hakyeon was sitting half-on Taekwoon's lap on the dorm sofa and recklessly kissed him on the mouth and Taekwoon, incredibly, impossibly, wonderfully, responded, kissing him back - that Hakyeon found out Taekwoon had any other feelings about receiving praise than general dislike and discomfort. The group had filmed an episode of a web show where fans could send in questions for the MCs to ask the visiting group, and one fan had asked about Taekwoon's obvious dislike of compliments. The MCs had teased Taekwoon, piling praise on him, chuckling at his reaction. Taekwoon had been a bit of a wreck, covering his face and flushed up to his ears, breathing heavily and begging them to stop.

It was very cute, Hakyeon thought. It almost reminded him of how Taekwoon was when they were alone - how he was that night, back at the dorm, when Hakyeon insisted on teasing Taekwoon through his underwear, licking and mouthing at his cock until the material was soaked with both Hakyeon's spit and from Taekwoon leaking. Taekwoon's thighs were shaking either side of Hakyeon's head, and he was panting tiny quick gasps of breath.

Hakyeon pushed himself up on his arms to enjoy the sight of Taekwoon spread out under him. Taekwoon's skin was flushed blotchy-red all down his neck and chest, and his eyes were damp. Hakyeon gave Taekwoon's cock another very long, slow lick. Taekwoon let out a little whining sound, followed by a whispered, "please..."

He was so adorable. Hakyeon decided to give Taekwoon what he needed. He slithered up the taller man's body, enjoying the way Taekwoon's eyes widened and darkened watching him move.

Hakyeon kissed him, letting his teeth scrape against Taekwoon's lower lip, using his hands to slowly ease down Taekwoon's boxers. "Put your hands above your head," he breathed against Taekwoon's mouth. Taekwoon obeyed immediately - their sex often had elements of power exchange and Taekwoon particularly loved to be told what to do - stretching up to reach the wooded bed head. Hakyeon trailed his hands up Taekwoon's arms, to his wrists and then to his palms and fingers, letting his own fingers and fingernails scratch lightly over Taekwoon's sweat-damp skin. Taekwoon was watching him intently, eyes almost black with desire. Hakyeon took Taekwoon's hands in his and gently guided Taekwoon until he was gripping the head of the bed with both fists. "Keep your hands here and don't let go," Hakyeon ordered softly, kissing one of Taekwoon's wrists before sliding back down his body to finish removing Taekwoon's underwear.

Taekwoon nodded silently, an almost steely determination to do as Hakyeon said visible in his eyes, even as Hakyeon settled on Taekwoon's hips, pressing his ass against Taekwoon's cock, making Taekwoon quiver.

Hakyeon began rolling his hips against Taekwoon at a leisurely pace and patted his hair. "Good boy."

It was said on the spur of the moment - Hakyeon himself barely thought through the comment before speaking, much more focused on the way Taekwoon looked underneath him and how, no matter how much he wanted to keep teasing, feeling Taekwoon's cock rubbing against his ass was already distractingly arousing. If he'd been asked before that moment whether it was something he'd said in bed before, he'd probably have assumed he must have, but a second later he was quite sure this was the first time - or if not the first time for the words themselves, the first time for this particular combination of tone and words and stroking Taekwoon like an obedient pet - because Hakyeon would surely have remembered if Taekwoon had reacted this way before. Taekwoon's whole body went tense and then a full shudder went through him, so hard the springs of the mattress underneath them creaked. His face, already flushed, turned an even deeper shade of red, and he let out a low, helpless whine. Hakyeon felt Taekwoon's cock jerk against his ass and then wet stickiness and realised to his surprise that Taekwoon had come - had come barely being touched, and just from... being praised?

Taekwoon seemed to realise what had happened almost as quickly as Hakyeon did. His eyes widened with embarrassment and he groaned, letting go of the bed head and covering his face with his arms, panting.

Hakyeon lifted himself off of Taekwoon and Taekwoon immediately rolled over sideways onto their bed, hiding his face in a pillow. Hakyeon's stomach fluttered with affection - as often happened, being around Taekwoon, just watching Taekwoon made Hakyeon feel like his insides were full of butterflies, like a teenager with a crush, even after all knowing each other so long - but also not a small amout of arousal. Seeing Taekwoon shy like this had always turned him on, but somehow, the thought that Taekwoon had come just from Hakyeon praising him was so exciting that he had to take a breath before he could speak.

He lay down beside Taekwoon, his stomach against Taekwoon's back, and slid one arm around the other man's waist, resting it on Taekwoon's belly. "Taekwoonie," he said softly.

There was a pause, and then - "I'm sorry," Taekwoon said, quick and embarrassed, into the pillow where his face was still hidden.

Hakyeon stroked his thumb between Taekwoon's belly button and the thin, sensitive skin at his hip. "It's okay," he soothed, feeling Taekwoon relax a little and lean back against him.

Taekwoon must be able to feel that Hakyeon was still hard against his thigh, but he didn't seem to mind and Hakyeon was careful not to draw attention to it - he was too fascinated, he needed Taekwoon to be relaxed so they could talk. "What happened?" he asked quietly, after a few moments.

Taekwoon tensed again, burying his face back into the pillow even more firmly. "I..." he started, and then sighed, giving up.

"Was it... was it when I called you 'good boy'?" Hakyeon asked, and Taekwoon gasped. It was just a tiny gasp, very quickly bitten down and hidden, but now Hakyeon was sure.

He wanted Taekwoon to be comfortable enough to tell him, though - however aroused Hakyeon was, if Taekwoon couldn't even look at him, this wasn't going to go anywhere.

There was silence for a while, long enough for Hakyeon to think Taekwoon might not answer, but then Taekwoon nodded into the pillow.

Hakyeon smiled and kissed the nape of Taekwoon's neck, just below his hair. "I thought you hated being praised, Taekwoonie," he said quietly, voice fond and ever so slightly teasing.

Taekwoon huffed at that. "I do," he said, the earnest tone of his voice muffled by the pillow he was still speaking into. "It's so... so..." 

Hakyeon reached round to take hold of Taekwoon's shoulders and gently tried to turn him over. He didn't pull Taekwoon hard, so that Taekwoon didn't have to move if he didn't want to, but Taekwoon rolled towards him easily. His eyes were cast down, avoiding meeting Hakyeon's, but he let Hakyeon tug him into an embrace, resting his forehead against Hakyeon's shoulder.

Hakyeon held him for a few minutes, stroking Taekwoon's back, enjoying the feeling of Taekwoon's small breaths against his skin; the softness of Taekwoon's bangs and the tiny brushes of his eyelashes when he blinked.

"I do hate it," Taekwoon said after a while. "I don't... know what to do, I don't know how to react. It's just so... so.... so much."

"But it turned you on?" Hakyeon asked. "When I praised you just now?"

"Yes," Taekwoon's voice was very quiet, little more than a whisper.

"Does it turn you on at other times? Or was it just now, because it was me and you were turned on anyway?"

Taekwoon didn't answer for a moment. Then he said, "It was... you. Because you were teasing." He nudged his forehead against Hakyeon gently, a fond, half-hearted reprimand for being a tease. "But... sometimes it..."

"Sometimes at other times too?"

"... yes." Now the answer was mostly breath, barely a word at all, but Hakyeon heard it clearly.

This was all much too exciting. "Does it turn you on no matter who does it?"

"..."

"Did it turn you on today? When we were recording?"

"I... no. Not when we were recording but... thinking about it now..."

"Thinking about it now is arousing?"

"Yes," Taekwoon whispered. Hakyeon smiled to himself.

"I bet it does," he murmured to Taekwoon. "Why wouldn't it, remembering how everyone there knows how impressive you are?"

"Hakyeon." Taekwoon's voice broke on his name and oh, Hakyeon had always loved to hear Taekwoon say his name like that.

He rolled Taekwoon over onto his back, straddling him again. “Maybe we should do it again, hmm?” he suggested. “Perhaps we should go on TV this time, tell the whole country just how great you are, how well you sing, how important you are to the group...?”

Taekwoon was shaking his head, blushing to the roots of his hair just as he had on the show earlier – but it was turning him on. Hakyeon could feel Taekwoon getting hard again underneath him, and he just had to make this last longer.

He started repeating what the MCs had said earlier - “you're such a star, Taekwoonie, you should see how people react when you sing; you don't know how much attention you get, how much people love you” - craning down to press kisses to Taekwoon's flushed face as he spoke. He whispered the praise against Taekwoon's skin, to his nose and his cheeks, to his hairline and the corners of his eyes. Soon Taekwoon was shuddering underneath him, breathing heavily, occasionally letting out tiny, bitten-back whining sounds. He was fully hard by now, Hakyeon could feel, and he very deliberately sat back against Taekwoon's cock, pressing down slowly, making Taekwoon's breath stutter in his throat.

Hakyeon was getting hard again himself. He grabbed the lube off the edge of the bed where it had been left earlier. “I bet a lot of people would be very jealous of me if they could see us right now, if they knew I get to be with you,” he told Taekwoon, slicking up his fingers.

Taekwoon made a sound somewhere between a groan and a purr. He was so adorable and Hakyeon was very turned on himself. He started preparing himself, gripping Taekwoon's shoulder with one hand. “Maybe you'd like it if I told everyone how good you are to me, hmm? How well you fuck me, how good you feel? Or...” He squeezed Taekwoon's shoulder harder, slipping his fingers deeper into himself, enjoying the stretch and the feel of Taekwoon's hips between his thighs. “Maybe you'd like it more if I told them how obedient you are for me? How you always do what I tell you, how much you like to – to please me? How you're my... my good boy?”

“Hakyeon,” Taekwoon breathed, the sound somewhere between a plea and a prayer.

Hakyeon pinned Taekwoon's wrists above his head as he rode him. He couldn't stop praising Taekwoon the whole time, telling him how amazing he felt, how good he was for Hakyeon. Taekwoon was so wrecked he could barely do more than thrust frantically up into Hakyeon. By the time he came, helplessly, his eyes were so wet Hakyeon thought he might cry.

*

Hakyeon made sure to discuss it some more outside of the bedroom a few days later, when they were both dressed and knew they were heading off to a schedule in about an hour so there was no pressure to have sex if Taekwoon didn't want to. He went out to the coffee shop down the road and brought Taekwoon one of those creamy lattes he loved so much. Taekwoon had never found it easy to talk about their sex life. The latte would be comforting, give him something to do with his hands. As Hakyeon had predicted, as he asked Taekwoon about what had happened a few days ago, if this was something he wanted to do again, Taekwoon wrapped his fingers around the coffee, warming himself, although the weather was good enough for them both to be in t-shirts.

The first thing Taekwoon said, when he asked if this was something Taekwoon wanted more of, was, “Do you... want to do more?”

Hakyeon nodded. “I liked it a lot,” he said, patting Taekwoon's thigh.

Taekwoon took a sip of the latte, tongue flicking out to lap the froth of his upper lip. “I did too,” he said. “I'd like it if you could... do it again. Some time.”

“Do you want what we did before? Something else? Something more?”

“I don't mind,” Taekwoon said. “I don't... know.” He looked up at Hakyeon with wide eyes. “I just... want you to...”

“Praise you?”

Taekwoon nodded and cast his eyes down to look at the latte. Hakyeon patted his thigh again.

After that they experimented a lot. Taekwoon, it turned out, enjoyed almost anything as long as it involved being praise.

One night, they had been drinking with Wonsik, which always led to both of them having more alcohol than they really should, and Taekwoon was much more uninhibited than usual, pushing Hakyeon down onto the bed.

Hakyeon was usually the one to take charge when they had sex, but it was a thrill when Taekwoon was rough, a thrill to let go and stop being in control of every thing for once. But this time Hakyeon ignored the desire to let his mind go blank and lavished Taekwoon with praise, telling him how good he was, the best Hakyeon had ever had. Even when Taekwoon was inside him Hakyeon didn't stop, the burn of pleasure at getting fucked hard driving him even more than his rational mind to work Taekwoon up, to get it even harder. Hakyeon pushed up against Taekwoon even more than usual and whined, telling Taekwoon how big he was, how thick, how good it felt to have Taekwoon inside him, how he wished Taekwoon would fuck him all the time. Hakyeon got what he wanted – it drove Taekwoon wild. His eyes blazed like big black stars; he moaned louder than he ever had before and fucked Hakyeon so wildly that Hakyeon's nails left long red marks where he had to cling to Taekwoon's back.

Taekwoon also liked to be praised for things he could achieve. Hakyeon started setting him small challenges: not moving while Hakyeon sucked his dick; undressing in shorter and shorter spaces of time; going to the bathroom and getting himself off during dinner quickly enough for the others not to notice. One fortnight, when Hakyeon knew he would be back from schedules much too late to spend much time with Taekwoon, he forbade Taekwoon to masturbate for the entire two weeks until they would have time together.

Once he'd been told to do something, Taekwoon would give everything of himself to whatever Hakyeon had asked. By the end of those two weeks, Taekwoon would get hard at the lightest, most teasing of touches, and his balls felt full and heavy, but he insisted on doing just as Hakyeon had asked. When Hakyeon unexpectedly returned to the dorm early on the final day and kissed Taekwoon deeply, Taekwoon drew away and said he wanted to make sure he kept to Hakyeon's original instructions exactly.

The next day, Hakyeon praised Taekwoon for nearly an hour, alternating between stroking and fingering him, making him come three times. By the time they were done, Taekwoon's lashes were damp with tears.

Hakyeon didn't originally consider using this new discovery about Taekwoon to help him with the problem of how to encourage Taekwoon as leader of their group – but it turned out this was one of the things Taekwoon liked best of all.

Sometimes, especially when he sensed Taekwoon was particularly tired or stressed and really needed something, Hakyeon would sit up on the bed and take Taekwoon into his arms. He'd cradle Taekwoon across his lap, Taekwoon's face pressed into Hakyeon's neck. “You did so well,” Hakyeon would murmur, gently scratching Taekwoon's scalp and kissing his forehead. “You do so well, Taekwoonie, I'm so proud of you...”

Taekwoon would tremble in Hakyeon's arms, clinging to his shirt, panting softly against Hakyeon's neck. Hakyeon would roll him back onto the bed and settle between his legs, never letting his hands or lips stray from Taekwoon's skin as he prepared him. He would carry on whispering to him as they fucked: “You're so good, Taekwoonie, so good, so good...” Taekwoon would wrap his legs around Hakyeon's hips and hide his face in Hakyeon's shoulder, mewling, whole body wracked with pleasure. He would come harder than he ever did during these times, spurting helplessly between their stomachs, mouth open and making noises like sobs. He'd be soft and even cuddly afterwards, burying himself in Hakyeon's body.

Hakyeon would let Taekwoon fall asleep half underneath him, or wrapped around him, watching the way the street lights from outside the window played softly over Taekwoon's sleep-slack face. His stomach would feel full and warm with affection. He'd catch himself thinking how lucky he was to meet Taekwoon, to be allowed to know and love him. More than how much it turned Hakyeon on to see Taekwoon do as he said and react to his praise – more than he wanted to encourage Taekwoon to do well, to work hard – the most important thing for Hakyeon was to be able to tell Taekwoon that he was loved, that he was good.

 

Fin


End file.
